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Leicester Attractions
Leicester is worth a look if you have an afternoon to spare. In addition to Victorian-style Shires Shopping Centre, High Street, with its designer and collectible stores, wide walkways, fountains, and sunny skylights, there's St. Martins Square in the city center, which has given new life to old restored buildings, with new retailers, cafes, and teashops. A wealth of specialty shops -- out .5km (a quarter mile) on either side of the railway station -- and several antiques stores line Oxford Street and Western Boulevard.
Venture out from the center of town to Belgrave Road, and you'll discover the Golden Mile, which takes its name from several jewelry shops found here, each specializing in gold. The store windows along Belgrave Road overflow with fine Indian silks, organza, and cottons. Sari shops also carry a variety of accessories including bags, jewelry, shoes, and shawls.
Launch Yourself into Space -- The most modern attraction in Leicester is the National Space Centre, Exploration Drive (tel. 0870/607-7223; www.spacecenter.co.uk), Britain's only attraction dedicated to space science and astronomy. It is crowned by a futuristic Rocket Tower. Allow 3 hours for a journey of discovery where stories, personalities, and technology of the past and present are used to explain space and how it will affect your future. You're taken through eight themed galleries, seeing space rockets, satellites, and capsules, and taking part in hands-on activities. Admission is £12 for adults, £10 children ages 5 to 16, £38 to £47 family ticket, free for children younger than 5. Hours year-round are Tuesday to Sunday 10am to 5pm (last admission 3:30pm).
7 Results
- Historic Site
Ashby Castle
If you've read Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, you will remember Ashby-de-la-Zouch, a town that retains a pleasant country atmosphere. The main attraction here is the ruined Norman manor house, Ashby Castle, where Mary, Queen of Scots, was imprisoned. The building was already an antique… - Landmark
Belvoir Castle
This seat of the dukes of Rutland since the time of Henry VII, rebuilt by Wyatt in 1816, contains paintings by Holbein, Reynolds, and Gainsborough, as well as tapestries in its staterooms. The location for the movies Little Lord Fauntleroy and Young Sherlock Holmes, it hosts medieval… - Historic Site
Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre & Country Park
This site commemorates the 1485 battle that ended one of England's most important conflicts, the War of the Roses between the houses of York and Lancaster. When the fighting subsided, King Richard III, last of the Yorkists, lay dead, and Henry Tudor, a Welsh nobleman banished to… - Religious Site
Leicester Abbey
In a verdant public park favored by joggers and picnickers, about 1km (a half mile) north of Leicester's historic core, these evocative, poetically shattered remains are all that's left of the richest Augustinian monastery in England, built in 1132. In 1530, Cardinal Wolsey came here… - Historic Site
Leicester Guildhall
Built in stages between the 14th and 16th centuries, the city's most prominent public building was Leicester's first town hall and contains one of the oldest libraries in Britain. Plaques commemorate its role as a die-hard last bastion of the Parliamentarians during the civil war. On… - Religious Site
Melbourne Hall
Built by the bishops of Carlisle in 1133, Melbourne Hall stands in one of the most famous formal gardens in Britain. The ecclesiastical structure was restored in the 1600s by one of the cabinet ministers of Charles I and enlarged by Queen Anne's vice chamberlain. It was the home of… - Religious Site
St. Martin's Cathedral (Leicester Cathedral)
It may not have the soaring grandeur of the cathedrals of York or Lincoln, but this is the most venerated and historic church in Leicester. In 1086, it was one of the region's parish churches, enlarged during the 1300s and 1500s. In 1927, it was designated as the cathedral of…
Leicester Nightlife
Phoenix Arts Centre, Upper Brown Street (tel. 01162/554854), hosts dance, music, and theatrical productions from around the world; local dancers, musicians, and actors also perform on its stage, and there's even an occasional film screening.
On weekends, the area around the Clock Tower in the center of town is alive with bustling crowds headed out to the clubs and bars on Church Gate, Silver Street, and High Street.
As you may expect of a university town, Leicester has a variety of pubs, but the one favored most by locals is the Pump and Tap, Duns Lane (tel. 01162/540324). Stop by to sample ales by Leicestershire's two home-brewers: Everards and Hoskins.
The biggest after-dark magnet is Zanzibar, Gravel Street (tel. 0116/2511442; www.zanzibar.co.uk), drawing hundreds of revelers on Friday or Saturday nights. The cover charge ranges from £2 to £20, depending on what's being offered. In one room you hear the sounds of pop classics, in the other hip-hop.
